Does anyone remember

[Schutzengel]

Liberty Bodices. They were supposed to protect children's chests in the winter.

[ethandron]

i was 4 when i started school too, it depends when your birthday is.

[shaneystar2]

Lol.... Mamya we had scratchy Merchant Navy blankets !
Some parts of our house were painted battleship grey :))
But Dad used to whitewash the lav .

[sqad617]

shaneystar...we had a paraffin lamp in the toilet and it smelt horrid plus the fact that grandma (who brought me up) would insist on locking the lavatory door when she went out.. I would dash home from school, wanting to "wee" and charge into an immovable door.
Air raid shelters on the streets with red lights on the corner....I had my first kiss in an air raid shelter...Joan Allett was her name and when she told her friends, they said "Urrgh who would want to kiss sqad"..It put me off women for a very long time.

[Robinia]

hehe...this is lovely...can you remember when the washing froze & you had to stand it up in the sink to thaw? And then it was draped around the house on overhead lines or wooden clothes horses (the 'gate' type, which, with an old bedspread draped over them, made great tents in the summer)

[ladyalex]

I too had to wear a liberty bodice, but could never , ever have been described as 'delicate'. The odd thing about mine was that, although it did not open down the front (went on over my head) it still had the rubber buttons ...presumably as decoration (!).
I also remember the fruit and veg guy coming with his horse and cart twice a week and, no one believes this, an ice cream man who travelled around by horse and cart too. Presumably he had a block of ice to store the ice cream in, but of course I never enquired. I was always hoping that the horse would wee and one day , it did. Made my day. Told you I wasn't delicate!

[Mamyalynne]

oh yes the frozen washing remember it well and at my grans she had a black leaded grate with a warming cupboard and our wincey jamas would be in there till ready for bed (smelt slightly of coaldust but very toasty) and her bed was so high i needed a chair to climb in LOL

[Mamyalynne]

And we havent even touched on how proud they were of both the front and back of the house - donkey stone for the step or cardinal red polish if you were posh enough to have the painted front step.

[Glaikityin]

I remember the "store" horses coming up the street from one side of the town where they stabled to the farriers in the street next to ours. ( I`m sure there is a Scottish word for farrier but I can`t think of it for the life of me, have stayed in England for too long, I`m forgetting things!) If someone knows the answer, please post a reply. The baker used to come wi` his horse and cairt as well as the fruit man. There were two neighbours who stood poised with their shovels to collect the horse droppings! We lived on a main road and they had to get it before the bus ran over it! Have really enjoyed this thread, I remember all the things mentioned. Does anyone remember Virol? I got it to build me up after 7 weeks in hospital with Scarlet Fever.

[craft1948]

yes sqad I was 4 in the August and started school in the September.
We lived at my granny's until I was about 5 - there was myself, my sister and parents sleeping in the front parlour, my aunt in the little bedroom, my gran and grandad in the middle room and my 4 uncles in 2 double beds in the biggest room.
We had gaslighting and gran baked in the fire range.
We also kept chickens and the odd goose (for Xmas) in the back garden (and this was in the middle of town)

[ladyalex]

Hello mamyalynne . How you doing ? Cardinal red, that takes me back. Do you still get Ox Blood shoe polish ? My mind used to work overtime on that one.

[sqad617]

Glaikityn

VIROL and RADIOMALT.....do you remember that.

Worm cakes...bl00dy aweful taste.

All those above just because I was thin and "weedy"

You ought to see me now. LOL....I think they are just beginning to have an effect.

[Naomicorlett]

I still black lead my fireplace. My children find it difficult to believe that when I was born near Inverness in Scotland the cottage we lived in had gas lights downstairs and only candles upstairs. ( Early ( oh ok very early) 1950s ).
My great Aunt in Isle of Man had a mangle in back yard until 1970s and an outside loo with no light but a very small oil lamp to stop it freezing. And guzunders upstairs.

[sqad617]

What about carpets? Do you remember cutting up old shirts. clothes etc and with an instrument called a "peggy" inserted the shredded bits into a large piece of canvas.
I helped when grandma thought I was capable.

Never was very good with my hands...LOL LOL

[Glaikityin]

sqad617
Never heard of RADIOMALT, I asssume it did the same job as VIROL. Pleased to say that I never had a worm cake. My Mum used to call the flat, round liquorice sweets with either pink or blue crunchy bits on them wormcakes. Is that what they looked liked? I don`t like the modern version of these sweets, they taste horrible!

[sqad617]

Glaikityn (or something!!! LOL)...yes..both were thick and glutaminous (is there such a word?)

[Mamyalynne]

hi ladyalex not doing too bad though this trip down memory lane is a double edged sword sometimes but fun all the same

Mamya x

[craft1948]

I used to help make those sqad - they were 'rag rugs'

[chinadog]

Our wormcakes were pink inside with dark chocolate,tasted foul. We had a a long tin bath and my mum used to wash the blankets in it. She's fill it up put the blankets in and us kids would paddle up and down. Fun for us and the blankets got washed at the same time. I used to love having a bath in front of the fire with the clothes horse around it covered with a sheet. I've still got my mams old singer sewing machine. Ah the memories.

[chinadog]

Aw we used to make rag rugs,all sat around the fire. I was'nt very good at it tho'. Did anyone have school knickers with a pocket to put a hankie in?..lol.

[craft1948]

yes china - and I don't know why there was a knicker pocket 'cos my mum always used to pin mine to my chest - eurgh
mind that was slightly better than Albert who I sat next to at school - his cuffs were hard and shiny green with snot!!